The impact of US military strikes on Iran may overshadow efforts to satisfy US President Donald Trump’s demand for a significant new defense spending goal as NATO leaders gather in The Hague on Tuesday.
At their two-day gathering starting on Tuesday, Trump has rebuffed their demand that NATO allies commit to donating 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense.
Despite Trump’s previous criticism of the alliance, the summit is intended to admonish Russia’s desire to expand and strengthen its defenses in order to deter any attack from Moscow.
The new defense spending pledge, according to NATO chief Mark Rutte, must be made in order for the alliance to deter Russia on Monday.
A new baseline, 5 percent of GDP, will be invested in defense, according to Rutte, the defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague.
This is a “quantum leap that is ambitious, historic, and fundamental to securing our future,” he says.
The summit is much less predictable than Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who hosted the gathering in his hometown, and other NATO member countries would like, due to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.
NATO was deeply divided by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with France and Germany leading the charge in the coalition while Britain and Spain joined the coalition.
The summit’s agenda may include Ukraine, but European allies and Canada are concerned that Trump might not want Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take the place of President.
Iran raises the bar for uncertainty
When the summit is held, a lot will depend on the specifics of the Middle East, such as whether Iran has threatened to attack the US or whether other NATO leaders speak out about the strikes with Trump or make comments to reporters.
Rutte claimed to the media on Monday that Iranian over-the-workday strikes did not violate international law.
Kimberly Halkett, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera, reported that European leaders are currently focused on diplomacy as a means of de-escalation and preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. Diplomacy becomes more difficult due to an increase in fighting, including Iran’s Monday targeting of a US military base in Qatar.
According to Halkett, “That is a task that has become much more challenging to accomplish because of the recent escalation,” according to Halkett, a journalist in Washington, DC.
Hashem Ahelbarra, a journalist for Al Jazeera, stated from The Hague that Rutte is “blaming the Iranians for failing to come out with the international community and the IAEA.”
A dangerous time for NATO
NATO runs the risk of appearing weak and divided if the meeting doesn’t go according to plan, just as its European members are concerned about Russia’s greatest threat since the Cold War, and they are prepared for possible cuts in US troop on the continent.
Putin refuted NATO’s claims that Russia might one day attack a member of the alliance as lies used by Western powers to justify extensive military spending on Monday.
Countries would spend 3.5% of GDP on “core defence,” such as weapons and troops, and a further 1.5% on security-related investments, such as upgrading roads, ports, and bridges for military vehicles, protecting pipelines, and deterring cyberattacks, according to the new NATO defense spending plan.
A decrease in spending on defense would result in hundreds of billions of dollars more, which would be phased out over ten years.
According to Ahelberra, “the reason they’re doing this is that when Trump comes to the Hague, they’ll tell him to “Listen, we’ve been listening to your concerns,” and so they’ve decided to stick to the 5-percent benchmark you’ve been talking about for a while.
Trump has long argued that Europe should shoulder more of the cost and military responsibilities of defending their continent.
Despite Madrid claiming it had agreed to avoid reaching the headline figure of 5%, Rutte claimed on Monday that Spain had not been given an “opt-out” from the pledge.
According to NATO estimates, alliance members collectively spent about $ 2.6 billion on core defense in the last year, or $1.3 trillion. The US, which spent almost $ 818 billion, made up the majority of the expenditure.
Ahelberra stated that the leaders of the European Union “want to persuade Trump that NATO is taking into account his demands, but they’re looking forward to being able to persuade him to keep working with the military allies to address a number of issues, particularly Ukraine.”
